PLUS

Genesis 41:46-48 “And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt.  And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.  And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls.  And he gathered up all the food of the seven years, which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities: the food of the field, which was round about every city, laid he up in the same.”

The Lord gave Joseph, like Daniel, amazing visions that he was able to use to gain favor with the rulers of his land.  Joseph, like Daniel, was faithful to put the Lord first and to follow Him.  Joseph, like Daniel, relied heavily upon the Lord’s blessings to serve faithfully and fully.  Joseph, like Daniel, diligently put his unique God-given gifts into practice in a way specifically tailored to his situation.  Like Joseph and Daniel, we are to do the same.

We are to use God-given wisdom and Holy Spirit nudging to dictate the course of our lives and to influence those around us.  We are to be faithful to put the Lord first and to follow Him.  We are to heavily rely upon the Lord’s blessings to serve faithfully and fully.  We are to diligently put our unique God-given gifts into practice in ways that are specifically tailored to our situations.

Our gifts aren’t the same.  The Lord won’t direct us in the same ways.  God’s blessings and our opportunities for impact are unique to our situations.  Yet, if we are faithful to follow Him while resisting the urge to limit the spheres within which we utilize our gifts, our influence can bring forth what this world needs.  We can bring it forth by the handfuls.

PLEASE PRAY FOR CHRISTIANS OF ALL PROFESSIONS TO IMPACT EVERY CORNER OF OUR LAND.  Joseph and Daniel impacted the corners of the land where the Lord had directed them.  They did so faithfully and diligently.  They did so by the handfuls.

ADDITIONAL NOTE:  Please see this prior post for related thoughts:  https://prayatlunch.us/standing-before-kings/

Daniel 1:20 “And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king enquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm.”

In an essay on Christian apologetics, C.S. Lewis wrote the following:

“While we are on the subject of science, let me digress for a moment. I believe that any Christian who is qualified to write a good popular book on any science may do much more by that than by [any] directly apologetic work. The difficulty we are up against is this.  We can make people (often) attend to the Christian point of view for half an hour or so but the moment they have gone away from our lecture or laid down our article, they are plunged back into a world where the opposite position is taken for granted. As long as that situation exists, widespread success is simply impossible. We must attack the enemy’s lines of communication. What we want is not more little books about Christianity, but more little books by Christians on other subjects–with their Christianity latent… You can see this most easily if you look at it the other way round. Our faith is not very likely to be shaken by any book on Hinduism. But if wherever we read an elementary book on Geology, Botany, Politics, or Astronomy, we found that its implications were Hindu, that would shake us. It is not the books written in direct defense of materialism that make the modern man a materialist; it is the materialistic assumptions in all the other books. In the same way, it is not books on Christianity that will really trouble him. But he would be troubled if, whenever he wanted a cheap popular introduction to some science, the best work on the market was always by a Christian.”

We need Christians to produce the “best works” in all areas of our society.  Daniel’s works were exactly that.  He and his faithful colleagues were ten times better than the alternatives.  Such powerful capability and credibility were impossible to ignore by the powers of their world.

PLEASE PRAY FOR CHRISTIAN EXCELLENCE IN ALL ARENAS.  Such excellence won’t just happen, but must be prayerfully and practically supported and cultivated by our Christian communities.   In doing so, we can better shake the world for Christ.

Daniel 1:3-4 “And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king’s seed, and of the princes; Children in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skillful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans.”

With the election now in our rearview mirror, one final election-related area is worthy of consideration.  Over the weeks that I wrote about the election, I lamented the lack of strong Christian candidates on the ballot.  The world is partly at fault for this gap, weeding out many Christian candidates before the election because they were considered too conservative and fundamental.  Yet, the Christian community may be at fault as well.

Daniel and his faithful colleagues were useful and impactful because they were both capable and faithful.  They had cultivated the amazing gifts God had given them and were able to stand in the king’s palace because they were educated, credible, and skillful.  Their without-blemish testimonies were able to influence the core of the Babylonian government because the world first recognized their superior talents.

Our land desperately needs strong and capable Christians behind our pulpits.  We need strong and capable Christians leading our ministries.  Yet, we also need strong and capable Christians elsewhere.  We need strong and capable Christian politicians.  We need strong and capable Christian scientists.  We need strong and capable Christian entertainers.  We need strong and capable Christian businessmen.  We need strong and capable Christian craftsmen.  We need strong and capable Christian laborers.  We need strong and capable Christian educators.  We need strong and capable Christian athletes.  We need strong and capable Christian soldiers.  We need strong and capable Christian authors.  We need strong and capable Christians in all professions in order to truly impact every corner of our land.

The Christian community must encourage and promote the full cultivation of talents among our faithful.  Only by doing so can our professional influence fully complement our ministerial influence for the cause of Christ.  PLEASE PRAY THAT CHRISTIANS IN ALL AREAS WOULD BE CAPABLE, CREDIBLE, AND FAITHFUL.  Daniel was!

Proverbs 29:2 “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.”

The election is done.  Apart from a few very close counts, the results are known.  There are reasons to rejoice and reasons to mourn.  Most importantly, there are continued reasons to pray in both cases.

From the Peter Marshall prayer from the previous post, he went on to pray the following:

“Help those who are about to be elected to public office to come to understand the real source of their mandate – a mandate given by no party machine, received at no polling booth, but given by God; a mandate to govern wisely and well; a mandate to represent God and truth at the heart of a nation; a mandate to do good in the name of Him under whom this Republic was established.  We ask thee to lead America in the paths where Thou wouldst have her walk, to do the tasks which Thou hast laid before her.  So may we together seek happiness for all our citizens in the name of Him who created us all equal in His sight, and therefore brothers.  Amen.”

Elected officials have a mandate that is far greater than many of them even imagine.  Similarly, we have a mandate to uplift them all in prayer (I Timothy 2:1-4).  We are to pray for the righteous to be resolute.  We are to pray for the wicked to repent.  We are to pray for our nation to follow Him.

PLEASE USE THE ELECTION AS A REMINDER OF OUR MANDATE TO PRAY FOR OUR NATION AND ITS LEADERS.  Christians must recognize that the nation’s well-being is more dependent upon God and our faithfulness than it is on the results of an election.  As elected officials wrestle with their mandate, let us not neglect our own.

Psalm 33:18 “Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy”

A massive responsibility of Christian citizenship lies before us this week.  Tuesday, we have the opportunity to vote.  While the election should have already been bathed in prayer for weeks by those who make their citizenship a priority, the act of voting with Bible-based values as the primary consideration is a singular event that puts our faithfulness into practice in a way that can be tallied.  May those tallies tip the scales in favor of Christ in this land.

Peter Marshall prayed the following in the 1940s:

“LORD Jesus, we ask Thee to guide the people of this nation as they exercise their dearly bought privilege of franchise.  May it neither be ignored unthinkingly nor undertaken lightly.  As citizens all over this land go to the ballot boxes, give them a sense of high privilege and joyous responsibility.”

In 2014, may Christians not ignore our right to vote.  May we not undertake this duty of citizenship lightly.  May we sense that this is an act of high privilege.  May we embrace this joyous responsibility.  May we vote with a firm fear of the Lord.  May we continuously hope in His mercy.  May we beg that His eye once again be upon this land.

PLEASE PRAYERFULLY VOTE.  Christians must exercise this privilege of franchise as an outpouring of our faithfulness to the Lord as we hope in His mercy.